Discover Modern Architecture's Appeal

Do modernism's 'cold' expanses make you hot under the collar? This reasoning may change your mind

The word "modern" provokes such strong reactions in the world of residential architecture. Some people might imagine wonderful homes of steel and glass with open, flowing floor plans; others might imagine sterile homes that feel like museums, complete with men in red suits watching carefully that nothing is touched.

Strong opinions abound about modern architecture, as they do regarding the wide variety of other architectural styles.

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines the word "modern" as "Of, relating to, or characteristic of the present or the immediate past." Other dictionaries add, "as opposed to the remote past" to the end of this definition.What exactly constitutes present and immediate past (within the scope of modern) or remote past (outside the scope of modern)? The answer is not measured in years but in advancements of technology and construction methods that generate lifestyle changes. For example, Native Americans built with adobe and stone for hundreds of years because that was the available technology. Yet, since the industrial revolution, constant technological advances have led to continuous lifestyle changes, impacting modern design.Modern is about now — what's current — not the past. Modern architecture is a snapshot, like a photograph, that timelessly represents the present.

Our lifestyles today are considerably different than the lifestyles of 50 years ago, let alone the lifestyles from 100 or 200 years ago.Architecture must represent the way we live today, not the way we lived hundreds of years ago. Remember parlors?Not many would.These were sitting rooms common a hundred years ago where guests were greeted.Our lifestyle changed, and parlors were weeded out.The image shown here is a modern floor plan. Note the great room — kitchen, dining area and living area all in one space.No formal dining area, no extra fat. Trim. Lean.

Materials and Technologies

Five hundred years ago, Native Americans built with adobe and Europeans built with stone. Homes had thick walls, small and deep-set windows, and small interior rooms. Technologies such as steel later allowed large expanses of space and large expanses of glass.This photo shows Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House. Finished 62 years ago, the Farnsworth House is a terrific example of how modern materials from the 1950s, such as steel, impacted modern design. The Farnsworth home is characteristic of its present, our immediate past, and is still considered modern for today.

Aluminum allowed for large expanses of inexpensive operable glass. The Case Study House was born while we figured out how to implement postwar technologies.

This photo displays a Case Study Home designed by Charles and Ray Eames: open interior spaces; open expanses of glass.

Today, with energy-efficiency concerns, materials like structural insulated panels (SIPs) are important along with new methods of prefabricated construction.Homes can be built in factories, reducing waste and the various inefficiencies of other construction practices.

This project uses many modern energy-efficient solutions, including solar panels, SIPs and straw bale to weave together a modern home.

A few years ago, a magazine devoted an entire issue to Tuscan architecture.The problem was, the style purported to be Tuscan was merely an ordinary home wrapped in a Tuscan skin. For six months my phone rang with potential clients asking for Tuscan architecture.

True architecture from Tuscany represents its place and environment. Tuscany has an ecology and readily available materials and stones. Tuscany has a history and a context.It makes little sense to design a Tuscan-skinned home in the Sonoran Desert.

Here is a modern courtyard akin to the wonderful courtyards of true Tuscan architecture, illustrating that one can apply principles of good design, regardless of how ancient the architecture may be, in a modern context.

Authenticity

Avoiding trends gives modern architecture an authenticity that other styles lack. As I mentioned earlier, it makes little sense to design a Tuscan home in the Sonoran Desert, or a pueblo home today, given that our technology is so radically different than what was available 250 years ago.

Ayn Rand's main character in The Fountainhead, architect Howard Roark, said it well: “A house can have integrity, just like a person; and just as seldom.” Too many homes lack integrity because they lack authenticity.

This entry is simple, clean and genuine. Nothing is aesthetically unnecessary.

A modern home should represent how we live today. It should reflect current construction methods and materials. It should have integrity by avoiding trends. Modern architecture offers an opportunity for an original beauty, not by imitating another style from another time or place, but by considering the present and, with imagination, creating a fresh aesthetic.

Love the idea of honest, of the place and time, homes. I would go broke heating a steel and glass 15-foot-ceiling home, but that's because this is the wrong place for that type of building. They are beautiful.